At any given moment on campus, someone could be wearing a scent that did not come from a department store or an online checkout page. It came from a freshman who carries his inventory in a backpack and treats every passing interaction as a potential sale.
Communication major, Cj Rouse, has turned something as invisible as fragrance into one of the most recognizable student businesses on campus.
Rouse’s business did not begin at the university. It began in Maryland, where he first learned how to sell fragrance oils under the guidance of a mentor.
When he moved to Derby, Conn., during his junior year of high school, he no longer had a job. Needing work, he posted online asking if anyone knew of places that were hiring. Instead of sending a job lead, the mentor who had trained him in fragrance sales offered a different suggestion: build his own business.
“He gave me the sauce,” Rouse says.
He started small, selling products at Derby High School. At first, he says, almost no one knew. By his senior year, his business started to pick up some traction. When he arrived on campus last semester, he set up shop in various places, such as the Adanti Student Center.
Rouse travels around campus, carrying oils inspired by popular fragrances such as Creed Aventus, Tom Ford, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino and Burberry. He even keeps trending staples in rotation, including scents reminiscent of Sol de Janeiro.
But one fragrance sits at the top of his sales chart: Baccarat Rouge 540.
“Baccarat is the number one seller,” he says. “I sold out of Baccarat four times. Last [order] I brought about 50 or 60 [containers]. They’re now all gone.”
In retail stores, Baccarat Rouge 540 can climb well into the hundreds of dollars. Rouse’s pricing model is less rigid and more personal.
“I don’t have set prices,” he says. “[Students] throw me a price, and I’ll work with their budget. If it’s too low, I’ll tell them. If it’s too high, I’ll tell them that too.”
His entire storefront fits inside his living space. Inventory stays in his dorm room, which he properly stores and restocks as needed. But he never leaves his room unprepared to make sales.
“I always have a couple on me,” he says. “Either in my coat or my backpack.”
He turned preparedness into a personal rule of his. He says if a student or university employee catches him without at least one bottle on hand, they get a free one.
“Obviously, I don’t want to give anything free,” he says. “I [would] lose money. But it gets people looking out for me.”
The bottles he sells are small roll-ons, meant to be portable, affordable and low-commitment for customers. For a brief stretch, he experimented with larger bottles, which did not sell as fast as small roll-ons.
“People don’t want to overbuy unless they know what the scent is like,” he says. “They’ll buy the small one first.”
Each bottle requires assembly. He purchases the roll-on vials, caps and labels separately, then puts them together himself. He also mixes the fragrance oils with vitamin C oil, a detail he shares with customers who worry about sensitive skin.
He says he shares that information to reassure customers, explain the product and strengthen his pitch.
What sets Rouse apart from someone simply reselling oils is the way he approaches each sale. Before a customer tries a sample, he asks a series of questions.
“I typically ask, ‘What’s your favorite scent that you own?’” he says. “Or I’ll ask, ‘Do you like vanilla scents? Fruity? Floral?’”
He listens carefully to the answers. If a customer loves sweet, romantic profiles, he might point them toward something reminiscent of YSL or other fruity-floral blends. If they lean warm and cozy, he will suggest vanilla-forward options similar to Burberry Goddess.
“I know all the scents like the back of my hand,” he says.
When customers hesitate, he often lets them try a sample and walk away. He delivers a bold guarantee with all his products.
“[I tell people] by the time you go to bed tonight, you’re still going to smell it on your skin,” he says.
So far, he says, the prediction has not failed him. Customers come back impressed by the longevity. And if someone genuinely does not like what they purchased, he offers exchanges for a different product.
One of Rouse’s customers, Chance Lewis, a sports management freshman, purchased a roll-on inspired by YSL Y. Lewis says purchasing from Rouse was a fun and good experience, adding that Rouse’s personality made the process comfortable and enjoyable.
“[It] works very well and smells exactly like it came from the bottle,” Lewis says.
Lewis was also featured in a promotional video for the business on Instagram. He says participating in the video was engaging and gave him the chance to help another student promote his business.
Rouse says the business has been profitable. But because it is commission-based, he has to prioritize daily sales.
“It’s definitely not a consistent job,” he says. “If I don’t sell, I don’t get paid.”
He says that without consistency, the business cannot grow. Even making one sale a day matters, because once he stops pushing himself, momentum slows and the business shifts from being a steady source of profit to something he relies on only in emergencies.
Word of mouth drives most of his sales. One satisfied customer tells a few friends, and those friends tell others. Social media helps spread the word even faster.
He primarily uses Instagram under the username @ck_oils, posting occasionally and encouraging buyers to share their purchases on their own stories. Each bottle is packaged neatly in a small bag, ready to be shared in a quick photo or video. Even students who do not follow him see his products posted on their friends’ social media accounts.
“It’s widespread,” Rouse says.
Balancing inventory and academics is another challenging aspect for him. He has to restock popular scents, manage slower-selling ones and make sure he keeps enough of what sells quickly without spending too much on products that do not.
The hardest part is not selling popular scents like Baccarat. It is selling the fragrances that did not turn out exactly as he expected or that customers do not connect with right away.
“There’s certain scents that I don’t like how they came out,” he says. “And they don’t sell easy either.”
Rouse says his customer base has evened out between men and women, though women still purchase slightly more.
Although the business is still growing locally, Rouse is already thinking beyond campus. Rouse is already thinking beyond the immediate campus map. He still ships occasionally to former classmates and out-of-state contacts.
Within the next year, he hopes to expand his reach to more upperclassmen and connect with new groups of students who have not yet heard about his business.
“Hopefully it grows bigger on and off campus, and it starts to venture out to all the dorm halls and the local area,” Rouse says.
